(a giant leap) into the dark
by lover of the dark
Summary: When Russian scientists get a serious case of the butterfingers, 99% of the population is killed off by an infection. Anthony and Kalel set off with the goal of finding those whom matter most to them, but the question remains: can they really survive in a world ruined by an unknown, ravenous disease? *RATING SET TO RISE.*
1. wake me up (and say it was all a dream)

_'Ello, 'ello! Originally, I wrote this as an entry to NaNoWriMo, but honestly - I fail to have the dedication / commitment / etc. to really write a FIFTY THOUSAND WORD NOVEL IN THIRTY GODDAMN DAYS. Seriously. I'm not Superwoman._

_But I am ridiculously fond of this story, and thought I'd continue working on it even after unofficially withdrawing from NaNoWriMo. So, congrats. Now you're stuck with me. I can't promise consistent updates, but I will do my best to have a new chapter every two weeks. Considering I'm almost done with school (YEAH BUDDY GO AUSTRALIA), it shouldn't be too hard to best that, but hey... #TeamLowExpectations, am I right?_

_Anyway, this will be split into seven parts (or perhaps arcs would be a better word to describe them), and each will relate to a specific character. Kalel and Anthony will share parts / arcs, though they will certainly have storylines outside one another... eventually. In this first part, we only have Kalel and Anthony._

_Though they do talk a lot about Ian because THEY'RE MY OT3 AND I CRY EVERY T IEM._

_Disclaimer: I own nothing. Don't sue._

* * *

><p><em>PART I – KALEL &amp; ANTHONY, A NEW DAY.<em>

_november 18__th__, 5:43PM – two days after outbreak._

"We have to go back!"

Kalel's words were only a dull roar, playing second fiddle to the wars raging on within his mind – despite not properly hearing her, Anthony knew she made more sense than anything he had said in the past two days. He was on the edge of delirium; clinging onto his sanity by the thinnest of threads.

With a sigh, Anthony released his vice-like grip on Kalel's clammy hand. "We _can't_." It was a harsh truth, but one Anthony had already accepted. As much as he wished to be back in LA, a place where he more than familiar with – it wasn't safe there. Even heading to Sacramento was risky, but Anthony yearned to learn the fate of his parents. If Missouri was closer, he knew Kalel would want the same thing.

After a moment, Kalel sighed. Although Anthony had his back to her, he could see her wringing her hands; a nervous habit she exhibited only when things weren't going the way she had hoped. "What do you think you're going to find in Sacramento, Anthony? Your mom? Your dad? The infection's everywhere! You heard it on the radio, same as I did. The elderly went first, and your parents are no spring chickens."

A wave of anger flashed through Anthony, but it quelled when he again realized Kalel was more mentally stable than he was. Sacramento was likely a dead man's land – if the infection hadn't killed the majority of residents off, the heat and lack of supplies would eventually.

As much as Anthony wanted to believe his parents would have so-far survived, he knew that the odds were not in their favor. His dad was only two months away from celebrating his fiftieth birthday, and his health had been declining in a scarily rapid fashion; his mother, despite being two years younger than his dad at merely forty-seven, still struggled with panic attacks. He doubted her chances of survival most, as he knew his poor mother wouldn't be able to fend for herself – and although he knew he should have, he could not bring himself to feel bad about his doubt.

What did he think they were going to find, anyway?

It had been a knee-jerk reaction, almost. When Kalel had mentioned the mere possibility of going somewhere other than Los Angeles, Anthony hadn't wasted any time in suggesting Sacramento; it was a six hour drive, and if they could get their hands on a still-functioning car, they would've been able to make it, no problem.

Kalel had objected at first – arguing that they should be leaving the state, but soon let up when Anthony had said, in a very roundabout fashion, that he wanted to see if his parents had survived.

But as they got closer and closer, Anthony realized he had already accepted his parents' fate; there was no logical way for the both of them to have survived, and although he did entertain the idea of his father or perhaps even his step-father surviving the initial infection, he could not bring himself to fully believe it.

"Ian." Anthony stated finally, ending the too-long and too-tense silence that had fallen between the two. "If my parents aren't at their houses, we'll go over to Ian's house. The Smosh house. He'll be there somewhere; trust me."

His back still to her, Anthony could sense the weariness in Kalel's stare.

With a sigh that sounded much too tired to truly belong to a twenty five year old, Kalel gripped Anthony's hand once again. "Anthony… are you sure about this?" With a few gentle tugs, Kalel bought Anthony to a position where they were facing one another. "What if _Ian_ isn't there? What if Sacramento's just… just gone?"

Anthony looked almost pained at the suggestion, and Kalel wished to take it back; to take it all back – from the worry lines scarring Anthony's features, to the dark bags under his eyes; she yearned to have back the Anthony she had fallen in love with, on the tenth day of the tenth month of the tenth year in a new millennia. "He'll be there." Anthony said at last, voice quiet and not unlike a child's. "It'll be okay, Kal. Trust me."

Kalel almost grimaced at Anthony's childlike innocence, but managed to gain control of her expression.

As much as she wanted to tug Anthony back in the direction of their little studio apartment, back to Pip and Kabuki and Mogwai, Kalel knew that all those whom survived the infection deserved closure, if they wished for it.

A strange smile crafted upon elegant features, Kalel gave a small nod of her head. "Okay."

(She would follow Anthony into death itself; only this, Kalel was sure of.)

* * *

><p><em>...So, yeah. I tried.<em>

_There's only two other chapters in this part / arc, but with each part, I hope the number of chapters belonging to each grows bigger. If you might be interested in being a beta for this story (and trust me, I would really appreciate it - I'm terrible with proofreading), leave a comment and lemme know._

_[ insert self-promotions and reminders to leave and comments here ]_

**NEXT CHAPTER**:

"Why are you doing this?" Anthony asked after a moment, all indicators of tenderness gone from his thoughts. He was instead angry, and perhaps even outraged; but his words were quiet, and Kalel knew that when Anthony was quiet, he was close to his breaking point. "Do you not want to find Ian? Is that it? Have you hated him this whole fucking time, and now you just want him fucking gone?"

"You know that's not true!" Kalel exclaimed, voice as shrill as Anthony's was quiet. "Ian was my friend too, you know."


	2. biting words like a wolf howls

_I'm BAAAAAACK. I think I almost passed the whole _waiting for two weeks before updating_ bull crap I spun in last chapter's notes, so woo woo!_

_I forgot to give some serious credit to Jean Hobbes for the name of the fic. "A giant leap into the dark" are speculated to be his last words, according to my Philosophy textbook. The title of the last chapter kind of comes from the 5SOS song "Everything I Didn't Say", I just fiddled with the words. Name of this chapter is thanks to Daughter and their awesome af song "Still", though I did change _howling _to _**howls **_so it made a little more sense._

_I can all-but confirm character deaths in this fic. As much as I'd like to pretend we're going to run into the whole Smosh Games crew, I promised my momma I'd stop lying. Three deaths will happen off-screen, though one may occur in a flashback - I'm yet to decide. You could probably guess two of the deaths. :(_

_From the original SG crew, we'll meet five of them throughout the fic - each will get their own "part", and then we'll go full-circle with Kalel and Anthony, though I do suspect I'll actually be giving them separate parts. Take that as you will, I suppose._

_There's only one chapter left in K&A's perspective, and then we'll hear from our good ole' bearholdnshark!_

_Disclaimer: I own a copy of Food Battle: The Game? The rest, I'm afraid, belongs either to the characters in the story or probably Shakespeare. Idk. Sue Shakespeare._

* * *

><p><em>november 20<em>_th__, 2:12PM – four days after outbreak._

Kalel and Anthony moved slowly, cautiously; like two people who had seen too much in only four days, and were too afraid to let their guards down. Kalel possessed the grace of her beloved cats, and even her tired eyes and forced smile couldn't take away from her innate elegance; it was Anthony who moved sluggishly, and it was Anthony whom allowed his exhaustion to taint his every action.

"What if he's not at the Smosh house?" Kalel asked finally, her voice hushed, as if she were afraid to disrupt the blanket of silence that had fallen over the two after they departed from the house Ian had once shared with his ex-girlfriend, Melanie.

Anthony sent her a tired glare, though it was still strong enough that Kalel shied away from it – only two people in the world understood how truly difficult it was to anger Anthony, and Kalel wasn't the one who knew how to disarm the anger of the twenty-seven year old; she hoped they found Ian soon, as she dreaded watching her fiancé waste away in his anger and exhaustion. "He'll be there, goddammit."

They were both aware of Anthony's wavering sanity – how he so professionally danced the line between sane and not sane; but they weren't sure how to address it. Before the outbreak, they so rarely argued; so rarely talked seriously about anything but their numerous hopes and dreams. Kalel had to restrain the need to laugh at the thought; the mere morbidity of it giving her more amusement than anything else had in far too long and she wished she would soon gain the courage to talk to Anthony about her worries and her fears. "You can't promise me that, Anth. You know you can't."

"Bullshit." Anthony said after a moment, his tone as rough as the wind that whipped at them – sane or not sane, Anthony still believed in his best friend; if his parents had abandoned him in the new world, he was sure Ian would not. It was the only hope he truly had, and he refused to let go of it. "It's Ian. Where would he fuckin' go, anyway? If my parents didn't survive, there's no way _his_ did…"

He trailed off there, and Kalel recognized that he was remembering something – her bet was that she was remembering meeting Sharon and Stephan for the first time, and then later, meeting Ian's birth father. Of all the stupid little times he'd shared with his best friend's family, and all of the stupid little times Ian had shared with his own.

After a few moments, Anthony shook his head, as if he were trying to ward off the memories he so desperately wanted to remember, but not experience once again. "It doesn't matter. He'll be there, okay?"

Kalel grimaced. Such an ugly expression looked out of place on such a beautiful girl, but it didn't manage to make her look ugly; and Anthony wanted to reach out and smooth the worry lines marring her face, and take away all the worries that swam about in her eyes. "Anthony… Don't get your hopes up, okay? It's possible that Ian left to go find his sister, or even went back to LA."

"Why are you doing this?" Anthony asked after a moment, all indicators of tenderness gone from his thoughts. He was instead angry, and perhaps even outraged; but his words were quiet, and Kalel knew that when Anthony was quiet, he was close to his breaking point. "Do you not _want_ to find Ian? Is that it? Have you hated him this whole _fucking_ time, and now you just want him fucking gone?"

The harsh words cut into Kalel's thick skin, and it hurt quite unlike any hate she had received on her YouTube channels. She'd never expected to hear such unkind words out of Anthony's mouth, much less expect them to be directed at her.

Ian had been her friend as well; she'd once-referred to him as one of the two most loving people in her life, and she still very much held the same opinion of him, even in the midst of the apocalypse. They had a strange little friendship; one that seemed much less meaningful than Ian and Anthony's friendship, or even Kalel and Joey's, but it still meant a hell of a lot to Kalel, and she hoped it meant the same to Ian.

But the fact was, when Kalel's head wasn't in the clouds, she had her feet firmly planted on the ground. She was a mess of contradictions and a changing mind, all wrapped up neatly in a girl who secretly yearned for acceptance; and it had been not only Anthony, but _Ian_ as well, who had granted her the acceptance she so desperately craved. Unlike Anthony, she grounded herself back to Earth – and through doing so, understood that the odds of Ian's survival were far too low to be considered anything but grim, and although the realization caused her stomach to churn uneasily, she accepted it.

It was what Ian would have wanted her to do, anyway.

"You know that's not true!" Kalel exclaimed, voice as shrill as Anthony's was quiet. "Ian was _my_ friend too, you know. He was there for me when you and Mari went off kissing behind my fucking back, and he was there whenever you were a fucking douchebag to me! You don't get to question my relationship with him, because I've never questioned yours with him. I'm being a fucking realist, because you're going to get your heart _broken_ if you actually believe we're going to find Ian at the Smosh house, because he's _not going to be there_!"

Anthony stayed quiet then, and only watched as Kalel breathed heavily in the aftermath of her crusade; it seemed that four days in the apocalypse had been enough to undo the "perfect" couple, and Anthony wondered how hard they would have to work to undo all the damage they'd caused.

(If they could fix it, at all.)

.0.0.

_november 20__th__, 8:20PM – four days after outbreak._

"I don't get it."

Kalel turned to face Anthony, her frown deepening when she saw him in Ian's normal chair, head in his hands. She had at least expected to feel somewhat pleased she had been correct when she assumed Ian would not be at the Smosh house when they arrived, but only felt empty when she found the house as empty as the refrigerator. "We can stay here tonight." She said at last, too afraid to address his worries.

"No. No, no – we'll find somewhere else. With food and water." Anthony said, words muffled by his hands; Kalel hated the fear she found hidden in his words, and knew that if this had happened only three months before, Anthony would be lost in a panic attack at this point. "We can't… we _can't_ stay here."

The hidden _I won't_ didn't go unnoticed by either of them.

Anthony lifted his head out of his hands, and glanced at Kalel with something other than the animosity he'd been subjecting her to since their argument only two short hours ago. "What are we gonna do, Kristin?"

The use of her birth name was a rare occurrence, and Kalel was nearly knocked over in a wave of nostalgia; only her family chose to refer to her solely as Kristin, though both Joey and Anthony tended to use her birth name when in the midst of serious conversations.

With a sharp and quick shake of her head, Kalel quietened the memories threatening to overtake her thoughts at the time, and kept a firm grip on the reality she had once loathed – prior to the infection, it was more often Anthony who was the stronger half of their relationship; she was the one with too-thin skin, and it was she who lost herself too easily in her dreams.

Now, though, Kalel understood the tables had turned. Anthony had become a master of juggling his sanity and insanity, and it was Kalel who had to guide him through the trials and tribulations of reality – an unknown entity that had smacked Anthony with a too-brusque force only hours before. His mother was gone; lost to an infection she didn't know how to fight, and his father had likely gone down the same road.

"We… we find survivors. Ian. Joey – hell, I'd even take some strangers at this point." Kalel said slowly, her gaze glued to her hands. "We can't have been the only ones to survive. Tomorrow, we'll leave as soon as the sun rises. Go back to LA. We can do this, Anthony. _I_ know we can."

Anthony stared her, his once-bright eyes dull and void of hope. It was almost difficult to believe that it was only five days ago that they had been sat on the bed of Kalel's Frilly + Fancy apartment, talking about their hopes and dreams, their future and their lives. Now, all Anthony could think of was his impending death; whether it be by the infection, a survivor or his own hand, he couldn't fool himself into believing he still had a future.

The future did not belong in a world such as the new one, but it did not seem as if Kalel had realized this.

When Kalel glanced up to look at Anthony, she was surprised to find pity swimming in his dead gaze – if either of them had pity to showcase to the other, it was Kalel. It was not she who was well on the way to losing their mind, and it was not she who believed so strongly in someone who may as well be dead. "What?"

Anthony's head cocked to the right, and he had something reminiscing a smile doused in pity upon his once handsome features. "Nothing. We should get some sleep."

Her confusion doubled, leaving Kalel with a furrowed brow. "Here? I thought you said…"

Although she trailed off there, Anthony seemed to know exactly what Kalel was planning to say and shook his head in response. Despite his unwillingness to stay in the house he'd once shared with his best friends, he couldn't imagine falling asleep in a bed other than his own – Anthony understood that home comforts were rare, and was certainly going to take advantage of them at the end of the world, despite feeling like a stranger in his own home. "I take it back."

With a weird feeling churning in her stomach, Kalel gave a slight nod. "Okay. Would you mind if I slept in Ian's bed?"

All she received was a shrug in return, and Anthony disappeared off in the direction of his room. Kalel exhaled another sigh, and wondered if a good night's sleep was all Anthony needed to return to his normal self.

(She hoped with all her being that her Anthony would return, and her rational mind did not have the heart to bring the dreamer back to Earth.)

* * *

><p><em>Let me just make it clear: I am ridiculously fond of both Anthony and Kalel. Though I do have moments of more-or-less hating them (sorry omf g), they're both very special to me. I just enjoy exploiting their numerous character flaws (particularly Anthony's, for some reason - I tend to find Kalel's more predominant in real life) for the sake of ~*drama*~. It's hard to generate some when you only have two characters, such as Anthony and Kalel, who seem to be belatedly fight in actual real life. So, many apologies if either seem overly out of character - that's remedied, for Kalel at the very least, when Lasercorn takes the reigns as unofficial protagonist. Anthony's redemption comes in the part after Lasercorn's.<em>

_But yeah, I'm considering uploading some of my Smosh Games one-shots up on here, so if you'd be interested in seeing them, let me know! (I promise there won't be as much angst as this fic will eventually have.)_

**NEXT TIME:**

Anthony turned around at that, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. His confusion was prominent, but when he glanced downwards, he saw Kalel's predicament: she was stood right on the pressure plate for a bear claw. "Shit."

Kalel was surprised to find that Anthony did not sound the least bit angered by the predicament; he was certainly annoyed, or perhaps even irritated, but there was predominately worry woven throughout his tone. "Please tell me you know how to disarm a bear trap."


End file.
